Billy Porter puts on his 'Kinky Boots' for Pops

Sunday

May 18, 2014 at 8:27 PMMay 18, 2014 at 8:46 PM

By R. Scott ReedyDaily News Correspondent

On the telephone to talk about his debut concerts with the Boston Pops May 20 and 21 at Symphony Hall, Billy Porter – who swept the 2013 theater awards season for his performance as Lola, the drag queen at the heart of Broadway’s "Kinky Boots" – was happy to reveal where he keeps his Tony and Grammy awards."I’m still designing my house, so my Tony and Grammy are on a shelf below the television right where I can see them." It must be a big shelf, too, because – in addition to the Tony for Best Actor in a Musical and the Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album – Porter also won the 2013 Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Outstanding Actor in a Musical. And awards season will continue for the Pittsburgh native when he arrives in Boston. Theater Offensive will fete him at its "ClimACTS!Bold" event at Boston’s Wilbur Theatre on May 19."Theater Offensive is honoring me for being an out gay black man. They’re saluting my gay blackness," says Porter approvingly, knowing that his Broadway triumph represents more than just commercial success."What some people don’t take into account about ‘Kinky Boots’ is that never before has the lead in a Broadway musical been a black man in a dress and big, shiny boots. Leads have been in drag before, of course, in shows like ‘La Cage aux Folles’ and ‘Priscilla, Queen of the Desert,’ but they haven’t been black. It is really, really powerful that ‘Kinky Boots’ not only has a pretty, black drag queen as its lead, but also that the black drag queen saves the day. This time, she’s not a sight gag or the butt of the joke. She’s the star of the show."The Cyndi Lauper musical – with book by Harvey Fierstein, based on the 2005 British film of the same name about the real-life story of what a straitlaced owner did to keep his dying shoe factory alive – brought the 44-year-old back to Broadway where his previous credits include "Miss Saigon," the 1994 revival of "Grease," and "Smokey Joe’s Café.""I had been at UCLA working on my writing and directing. Cyndi writes such perfect music about social issues that when ‘Kinky Boots’ came along, it just felt right," says Porter of the opportunity to don a flowing wig and towering boots. My mother has cerebral palsy and has never been able to wear high heels. It has always been her dream to do so, though, so when I put them on, I stand in proxy for her. I’ve never made a living as a drag queen. As a little boy, however, I did try on my aunt’s high-heeled shoes. I find high heels very empowering. Walking in the boots was not a problem, but I did have to learn how to dance in them."Along the way to becoming a bona fide Broadway star, Porter earned his BFA in Drama at Carnegie Mellon University. It was there that he first met Boston Pops Maestro Keith Lockhart, then studying for his Master’s of Conducting."Keith and I were at Carnegie Mellon at the same time in the 1980s and we would pass each other in the halls. I believe he even played piano for a few of my private voice lessons. Keith was as handsome and suave then as he is now."When the onetime college classmates reunite next week, it will be for a program that takes its title from Porter’s second album, "At the Corner of Broadway and Soul," and music from both that and his just-released third album, "Billy’s Back on Broadway" – its title chosen as an homage to the 1965 Sammy Davis, Jr., album, "Sammy’s Back on Broadway.""With both the second album and the new one, I’ve taken Broadway classics and deconstructed them with help from my music director, James Sampliner, and record producer Rob Mounsey. These are my takes on songs like ‘I’ve Got to Be Me,’ ‘Don’t Rain on My Parade,’ and ‘Everything’s Coming Up Roses.’ I also do ‘Not My Father’s Son’ from ‘Kinky Boots,’ which is a song I don’t get to sing in the show. I’m really pleased with the new album and thrilled that I’m going to get to sing this music with the Boston Pops."Promoting his new album and giving concerts aren’t the only things filling up the limited free time on Porter’s schedule these days. This fall, Primary Stages will present his new play, "While I Yet Live," off-Broadway in a production starring S. Epatha Merkerson from TV’s "Law & Order.""The play is about my relationship with my mother and my coming out as a black gay Christian teenager," says the Harlem resident.While his career as an actor, singer, playwright and director may be pulling him in several directions, Porter, who has numerous feature film and television credits, says he plans to stay right where he is through July and perhaps beyond."My whole goal is to just be present and enjoy every moment. We live in a space and time now where we are always on to the next thing. That’s not for me, though. I’ll do more concerts for sure, but ‘Kinky Boots’ is where I really want to be. Lola emerged out of me. There’s a different kind of ownership in that experience," says Porter, who is mulling a contract extension that could keep him at Broadway’s Al Hirschfeld Theater through January 2015. "For me personally and professionally, ‘Kinky Boots’ has been a game changer. It’s been like catching lightning in a bottle. The show has entered the Broadway zeitgeist and I’m very happy to continue to be a part of that history.""At the Corner of Broadway and Soul, Billy Porter and the Boston Pops"WHEN: May 20-21WHERE: Symphony Hall, 301 Massachusetts Ave., BostonTICKETS: $24 - $94INFO: 617-266-1200; bostonpops.org